Designing for complexity and uncertainty – policy instruments for complex environmental issues

Policy Design and Practice, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: unknown, P. 1 - 14

Published: March 8, 2025

This paper explores the difficulties of designing effective policies to address complex environmental policy challenges under conditions uncertainty. It builds on two bodies previous research, concerning (1) policymaking complexity, uncertainty and controversy ("wicked problems"), (2) likely impacts choosing particular instruments – voluntary, mandatory procedural. These frames are applied three Australian cases plastic waste management recycling; protection biodiversity through nature-based "offsets;" enhancing marine water quality protect coral reefs. very different have shared a similar evolutionary pattern, namely: problem awareness was slow develop, as in "creeping" crisis; governments initially attempted influence stakeholder behavior voluntary measures, such information, meetings, small financial incentives industry codes conduct; (3) track-record over several decades showed that reliance measures shift produced weak program outcomes. The implication is more solutions would require support for clear outcome targets enforceable standards, foundational elements future mixes.

Language: Английский

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Culturing coral larvae with food supplements enhances larval size and settlement

Aquaculture, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: unknown, P. 742392 - 742392

Published: March 1, 2025

Language: Английский

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Restoration innovation: Fusing microbial memories to engineer coral resilience

One Earth, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 8(3), P. 101193 - 101193

Published: March 1, 2025

Language: Английский

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Current velocity, water quality, and benthic taxa as predictors for coral recruitment rates on the Great Barrier Reef

PLoS ONE, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 20(3), P. e0319521 - e0319521

Published: March 26, 2025

Coral reefs worldwide are experiencing frequent disturbances, rendering coral recruitment critical for population recovery. This large-scale study identifies environmental, spatial, and biotic drivers of recruit densities at 141 stations stratified across seven regions three depths (1, 5, 15 m depths) with contrasting environmental conditions along the Great Barrier Reef Torres Strait. Settlement tiles were deployed two years, benthic cover quantified following retrieval. Benthic communities assessed from tile images using point-classification AI program ReefCloud. Environmental data derived in situ readings models. Across all sites, averaged 187 ± 12 ‒ 2 (SE), region-wide averages ranging 43.5 to 247 32 . Mean 3-fold higher four clear-water compared turbid-water regions. Boosted regression tree analyses showed that declined increasing current velocity, sedimentation, depth, increased pH. From lowest highest observed levels by ~ 530 300 recruits Even relatively minor increases sediment deposits 0.1 38 mg cm associated a monotonic decline 130 Recruit also weakly positively related turf crustose coralline algae on tops, negatively fleshy invertebrate undersides. Some variation these taxa was (e.g., sedimentation currents), suggesting possibility additional indirect effects densities. Our results highlight strong role velocity water quality as regulators success, likely influencing capacity reef sites recover after disturbance.

Language: Английский

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Assessing the potential for “assisted gene flow” to enhance heat tolerance of multiple coral genera over three key phenotypic traits

Biological Conservation, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 306, P. 111155 - 111155

Published: April 14, 2025

Language: Английский

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